***
Early the next morning a noise awoke me. Whatever caused it, stopped. If someone was here, he or she was hiding. From my position on the sofa, I could see every crevice and corner of the spacious office. The room was still dark. Five-twenty, my watch said. Great. Two hours sleep. I needed at least seven, otherwise I was prickly as a cactus.
I heard a door squeak open and close in the hallway and knew for sure then I wasn’t alone.
On the defense, I wouldn’t wait for the intruder to make a move on me. I jumped from the sofa and ran to the doorway, snatching one of Lou’s bowling trophies from the credenza on the way past. Just in time, too. A gorilla-size man came into the office. I charged. My hand high in the air, I prepared to strike.
The overhead lights came on and Lou strode in, taking a sideways look at me. He growled.
“This is my office,” he said gruffly. “I should be the one on the attack.”
“You scared the crap out of me.”
“I could say the same.”
“Sorry.” I set the trophy back in place, walked to the sofa and strapped my borrowed sandals on my feet. “I thought you were someone else.”
“Who?”
Good question. “I don’t know for sure.”
He brought his bushy brows together and narrowed his eyes. “What mischief did you get into this time?”
“It’s more serious than a prank.”
Lou walked to his desk and sat. “Talk.”
He needed to say nothing more. I babbled like a loon for twenty minutes non-stop. “And tonight when I left the hospital, someone followed me.”
“You seduced a man?” Lou asked.
I couldn’t believe that from all what I’d told him, me seducing a man seemed an idea too preposterous to conceive. Amid that thought, I could hear someone walking outside Lou’s office. “Did you hear that?” I asked.
“Hear – ”
“Shh,” I said, holding a finger in the air and turning my head toward the doorway.
The sound of footsteps came again.
This time, Lou heard them. He opened a bottom drawer and came out with a device used to lock a steering wheel. Big Bertha, he called the gadget.
Big Bertha or not, I became alarmed he would get hurt or worse. These people, these murderers played for keeps. Two corpses testified to it. I wouldn’t be able to live with myself if something happened to Lou because of me.
“Don’t go out there.” My heart beat so hard I was sure the motion could be seen through my dress.
“I can look after myself,” Lou said, moving toward the door.
“Call the police,” I said from the edge of my chair.
Lou peeked into the corridor. “I don’t see anyone,” he said, his voice a whisper.
“He’s probably gone. Call the police.” I moved to where Lou stood. “This isn’t a good idea.”
“Are we sure we heard something?”
“Maybe it was a homeless person using the facilities.”
Lou cocked a brow.
“What? It happens.” I closed and locked the door. Lou probably had my identical thought: If the footsteps belonged to an employee, he or she would have stopped and said good morning. But whoever it was, had left and in another hour or so, the place would be filled with workers. No one would dare make a move with people around. Maybe then I could relax. Yes, maybe.
At Lou’s desk, I said, “If there was someone, you probably scared him off.” I motioned at the steering wheel lock.
The door knob rattled.
Lou and I stared at the door.
Then came a knock.
“Who is it?” Lou asked much calmer than I would. He was rock solid under fire.
“Jones, sir. Why is the door locked?”
Lou rolled his eyes. “It’s the nut bar.” He groaned. “It’s too early in the day for that.”
“I’ll take care of him.” I reached the door before Lou could stop me.
“Just let him in. With any luck, your presence will frighten him off.”
“Gee, thanks, Lou.” I threw the lock and pulled open the door.
Jones held a box of doughnuts in his hand.
“For me?” I asked. “How sweet. How’d you know I skipped breakfast?”
Jones stuttered and gasped. Obviously, he hadn’t expected me to be in Lou’s office.
“Cat got your tongue?” I grabbed a doughnut and bit into it. “Yum. Strawberry filing. My favorite. How’d you know?”
“I-I-I – ”
“I hope you’re not going to tell me these are for Lou.”
“I-I-I – ”
“If you’ll excuse us, Lou and I have important matters to discuss.” I inched the door closed, then re-opened it. “By the way, I’m back.” I closed the door. For the final time.
On my way to Lou’s desk, I dusted icing powder from my hands.
“That was diplomatic,” Lou said.
“And you would have shown more diplomacy?” I grinned.
“I say, thank the lord you’re at the paper infrequently.”
I chuckled. For a moment, I actually forgot someone held me in their sights, waiting for the right time to pull the trigger. Reality came crashing down on me then like a tidal wave. It took me another moment to find my breath and my voice.
“About my problem? What do I do?”
Lou fixed coffee. “What can you do? As I understand the situation, you think Carlisle is out to get you, but you haven’t presented any facts to support your theory. Has it ever occurred to you he may genuinely care about you? God help the poor man.”
I thought about it. On the one hand, Jackson’s kisses seemed real. On the other, his considerable charm could make me think he was sincere.
I was the outcast.
I would always be the outcast.
“It was all an act for Jackson,” I decided.
Lou studied me. “If you’re sure.”
“I am, and I also think I’m next on his hit list.”
“What about the girl? How does she fit into all this?”
“Maybe they’re partners.”
“In what?”
I shrugged. “Take your pick. There’re all sorts of crime and money’s at the root of many of them.”
Lou pulled his lip between his teeth and let go. “This could be drug-related.”
“Could be.” I knew where Lou’s thoughts had gone and hated that my situation had dredged up unpleasant memories for him. I wanted to smooth things over, tell him that one day his son would find his way back to him, but couldn’t find the appropriate words.
“How was the vet killed?”
“A bullet to the back of the head, I think. Execution style.”
“You’re watching too many movies.”
“That I do probably saved my life more than once in the last few days.”
“Was the lawyer killed in the same fashion as the vet?”
“I don’t know. Vail wouldn’t say.”
Lou picked up the phone and punched a series of numbers on the keypad. “Allie, how was the lawyer killed that was found outside the Oyster Shell last night?...Time of death?...Any witnesses?...Was anything found at the scene?...What are the police saying?...Keep me informed.” He hung up and looked at me.
“The vet and lawyer were killed in the same manner. Allie overheard Vail say it looked like the same weapon used in both killings. Vail wouldn’t make an official statement. They found something but Vail’s tight-lipped on what it is. What time did you arrive at Carlisle’s?”
“About seven-forty-five.” I knew where Lou was going with the question. “You’re trying to put Jackson at the scene of the lawyer’s murder at six-thirty. Supposedly, he was home cooking dinner for me at the time.” Although, how long did it take to cook spaghetti and heat sauce? For all I knew, which was turning out to be very little, he could have gotten take-out from the Oyster Shell.
“If Jackson is trying to kill me, what’s his motive?” This had to be someth
ing bigger than payback for my revenge on him.
“Maybe you saw something you shouldn’t have or know something you shouldn’t. You still can’t remember all of Friday night?”
“The memories come and go in bits and pieces. One thing I don’t remember at all is getting back to Amy’s.” That bothered me. Really bothered me. I wasn’t feeling like they did, but those men could have done anything to me and I wouldn’t know differently.
“How did you feel when you woke Saturday?”
“Hung over.”
“Do you think you could have been drugged?”
“It’s possible.” From what I’d read on date rape drugs, the effects last a period of time. Days of feeling wrung-out, nausea within the first twelve hours of ingestion, flu-like symptoms, hot flashes. I hadn’t experienced any of those maladies. Other than a second-degree headache, my body returned to normal by mid-day Sunday, after I visited with Father Francis.
“Did you want a blood test?”
“No.” I sat across from Lou, ate another doughnut and drank cold coffee. A bad feeling settled in my gut about Jackson. That Trish was involved in whatever caper Jackson had going added fuel to the slow burn in my stomach.
“How could I have been so stupid?” I ran my fingers through my hair.
“We all make mistakes,” Lou said.
“Not like mine. Not like this one.”
“Where are you going when you leave here?”
“Amy’s. I have a column to write.”
“Is that wise? Going to Amy’s, I mean.”
Right. Jackson knew to find me there. “Maybe I’ll go to the cottage.” The isolation was what had attracted me to the structure when I stumbled onto the quaint home. Now, the remoteness frightened me. No one would be around to help me.
Lou opened the pencil drawer in his desk and took something in his hand.
“Here,” he said, handing me a key. “Stay in my guest house. You’ll be safe there.”
Lou was right. No one could get at me there. His property was as secure as the Federal Reserve. “Thanks, Lou.” My quaking limbs settled already.
“Tell Baby I sent you.”
“Who’s Baby?”
“You’ll see.”
An Equal Measure Page 21